Two polio vaccinators shot dead in Mansehra

MANSEHRA: Two polio vaccinators – both of them female – and a policeman were shot in a broad daylight in Mansehra on Tuesday, ARY News reported.

The vaccinators were administrating polio drops to children in Tanawal area with a security cover by a policeman. In the meanwhile, the armed miscreants atop of nearby mountain opened fire on them.

A lady health and the cop died on the spot, while another lady vaccinator sustained serious bullet wounds. She was moved to a hospital, but succumbed to his injuries upon arrival to the hospital.

AFP adds: “The two-member team was administering polio drops in an Afghan refugee camp and its surrounding areas when two gunmen opened fire on them, killing one lady worker and a policeman and wounding another lady worker and a passer-by,” local police chief Muhammad Ejaz Khan told AFP.

He said the second woman polio worker later died of her wounds.

Another senior local police official, Akhtar Hayat, confirmed the incident and casualties.

DPO Mansehra has summoned additional contingent of police and directed them to catch the culprits.

Pakistan is one of only three countries where polio remains endemic. Attempts to eradicate it have been badly hit by militant attacks on immunisation teams that have claimed 77 lives since December 2012.

The militants claim the polio vaccination drive is a front for espionage or a conspiracy to sterilise Muslims.

Last year the number of polio cases recorded in Pakistan soared to 306, the highest in 14 years.